The Sound of Silence by Katrinia Goldsaito

Brief summary: Yoshio walks around Tokyo listening to the sounds of the city. The child asks a Koto Player what her favorite sound is and learns about “ma” which is Japanese for silence. He spends the rest of his search seeking ma which he successfully finds.

Comments: There is an afterword with an explanation of ma. There is a list of five Japanese words and meanings used in the book. This would be a great book to go with the five senses study in primary grades. I plan to use this book in the library to ask students when they experienced ma and to share next week if they heard ma that week. This could be used in music classes as well to emphasize when there is silence in a song.